Tring to understand the strong move 28. Rh1 !

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bernier96

In my game against the bot Alexander, I played 28. Bc4 (a blunder). Instead, the game report has as  best move 28. Rh1!

I played from 28. Rh1 onward against Devon and Natasha. They both got mated in 4 or 5 moves. My understanding is that 28. Rh1 is good because it creates a mating net with the two rooks along the g and h files. Perhaps you have other ideas.

The full game is:

justbefair
bernier96 wrote:

In my game against the bot Alexander, I played 28. Bc4 (a blunder). Instead, the game report has as  best move 28. Rh1!

I played from 28. Rh1 onward against Devon and Natasha. They both got mated in 4 or 5 moves. My understanding is that 28. Rh1 is good because it creates a mating net with the two rooks along the g and h files. Perhaps you have other ideas.

The full game is:

 

The problem with 28 Bc4 is that your bishop on h6 is vulnerable and overworked.

Against a stronger opponent, you would not be mating in 4 or 5 moves. 28..Bd2 costs you the exchange and stops your attack.

According to the computer, your Bc4 takes the evaluation from +11 to 0.0.

Rh1 protects the h6 bishop, allowing you to retreat your rook on g7 if necessary.

bernier96

Many thanks. I now see that 28. Bc4 is weak due to 28... Bc2 by Black, and costs me the exchange. Of course in the game Alexander blundered with 28... Nb6 .

I also played from 28. Rh1 against the stronger bots Vishy, Wei and Maximum. The games against Maximum and Vishy were longer than a few moves. According to Stockfish 14  after 4 minutes , the principal variation (best moves found) begins: 28...Rg8 29.Rxf7 Rg2 30.Rxd7 Kg8 31.Rxb7 d5 . 

whiteleg2710

good!

bernier96
Optimissed wrote:

28 Rg2 doesn't look too bad to me. Have I missed something?

It's neither good nor bad, with an evaluation of -1.4 .

If instead  28. Rh1, then after the random move 28... d5 there is a mate in 3. This is the position after 27... Bxc3:

To me it's not at all obvious that 28. Rh1 is a strong move.